Marcel Loridan (4 December 1883 - 1971) was a French pioneer aviator.

Marcel Loridan aboard his biplane Farman II in 1910

Loridan was born in 1883 in Paris. On 19 September 1910 he received aviator brevet n° 241.[1]

On 8 July 1911, he broke the world altitude record when he reached 3,280 metres in his Farman biplane.[clarification needed] The ascent, starting from the Camp de Châlons, took 1 hour and 23 minutes.[2][3] The previous record was set by Georges Legagneux on 8 December 1910 in Pau, when he reached 3,100 metres in a Blériot plane with a Gnome engine. Other sources claim that the record of Legagneux was only broken on 5 August 1911, by Julien Félix.[4] Soon after his altitude record, Loridan also set new records for longest flights in time and distance and won the Michelin Cup.[5]

During the First World War he was a pilot in the French Army. He was decorated with the Croix de guerre 1914–1918. He died in May 1971 at Chartres.[6]

Notes

edit
  1. ^ Besançon, Georges (1911). "L'aviateur". L'aerophile.
  2. ^ "Month of achievement in aviation". Popular Mechanics: 349. August 1911.
  3. ^ "Le 8 juillet 1911 dans le ciel : Loridan recordman de hauteur". Air Journal. 8 July 2012. Retrieved 27 January 2017.
  4. ^ "Ascends 11,330 Feet. Capt. Felix Exceeds Legagneux's Record, But Not Hoxsey's" (PDF). New York Times. 6 August 1911.
  5. ^ "En 1911, le formidable succès du meeting aérien de Champirol". Le Progrès. 29 July 2011.
  6. ^ "Huit pilotes, huit héros…". Le Progrès. 29 July 2011.